Guide
How to inspect element on a Mac
Inspecting an element shows the HTML and CSS behind any part of a page, so you can see how it's built, try a change, or find out why something looks wrong. In Tern it's always one right-click away.
Free · macOS 26 or later · Signed and notarized by Apple
Inspect an element in Tern
- 1
Right-click the part of the page
A heading, a button, an image: whatever you want to look at. - 2
Choose Inspect Element
It is at the end of the menu. The Web Inspector opens with that element already selected. - 3
Read or change it
The HTML is on one side and its CSS on the other. Edit a value to try it live; reload the page to put it back.
What's in the Web Inspector
- Elements
- The page as HTML, and the CSS rules that style the selected element, with the computed values.
- Console
- Messages and errors from the page's scripts, and a place to run JavaScript against it.
- Network
- Every file the page loaded, how long each took, and what came back.
- Sources
- The page's scripts and stylesheets, with breakpoints for debugging.
See the whole page source
- 1
Right-click an empty part of the page
Not on a link or an image. - 2
Choose View Page Source
Just above Inspect Element. The source opens in a new tab beside the page, so the page itself stays as it was.
Questions
I don't see Inspect Element
It may be turned off. Open Settings › General and turn on Show developer items in the page menu.
Can I break a site by editing it?
No. Changes in the inspector only affect the copy on your screen, and reloading the page undoes them.
Is the page source the same as what the inspector shows?
Not always. The source is the page as it arrived; the inspector shows it as it is now, after its scripts have run.
Read next
Try Tern on your Mac
Free, for macOS 26 or later. Bring your tabs over in the first minute; the agent runs on your own Claude key.
Download for Mac